UN Profile - Japan

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2.0. GENERAL BACKGROUND
Japan consists of four main islands and a total land area of 377 765 square
kilometres. Of its entire land area, 72% is mountainous and the remaining 28%
is relatively flat. The population of Japan as of 1 October 1986, was
121 700 000, the population grew by 4 7000 000 (a rate of increase is 4%)
compared with that of 1980. As to the age structure of the Japanese, it can be
observed the remarkable speed and extent of the aging of the population
structure. Crime committed by the elderly is also on the increase and it is
beginning to become a social problem.
As provided by the 1945 Constitution of Japan, the government of Japan has the
Parliamentary Cabinet system based on the separation of the legislative,
executive, and judicial branches.
The procedures followed in a criminal case is the same throughout Japan.
There is only one territorial jurisdiction and it is on a national level. The
Code of Criminal Procedure of 1948 and the Rules of Criminal Procedure of 1949
are the principal sources of law governing criminal procedure.
The minimum age limit of `criminal responsibility' is over 14 years old. The
family court handles cases involving delinquent juveniles under 20 years of age,
and has primary jurisdiction in regard to all juvenile offences, whether they
are felonies such as homicides or arsons, misdemeanours such as traffic offences
or violations of administrative control laws.
The Japanese economy in the 1980-1986 period, on the whole, performed
favourably, overcoming the effects of the second oil crisis. The amount of
gross national product was 334 652 billion yen in 1986, an increase of 93 805
billion from 1980. Yen rate against dollar appreciated sharply in this period,
the average rates for 1980 and 1986 being 226.7 and 168.5 yen/dollar,
respectively.
The general trends in crime from 1980 to 1986 are reflected in statistics on
the number of Penal Code offences known to the police (Table 1). In 1986, the
total number of Penal Code offences reported to the police was 2 124 239, an
increase of 311 484 (17%) over six years ago. The rate of clearance by the
police of known Penal Code offences was 72.2 per cent in 1986. The annual
clearance rate from 1980 to 1986 has varied between 69.2 per cent and 72.9 per
cent of offences known to the police. This increase in Penal Code offences
involved mostly a disproportionate increase in automobile accidents constituting
the Penal Code offence of professional gross negligence causing death or bodily
injury.
TABLE 1
Number of Penal Code Offences Reported and
Cleared by Police, and of Suspects of Offences Cleared
Number of Number of
Offences Offences Number of Clearance
Year Reported Cleared Suspects Rate
1980 1812755 1266482 869766 69.9
1981 1925792 1333084 904609 69.2
1982 2005292 1392573 944005 69.4
1983 2039181 1427786 963494 70.0
1984 2080297 1494526 961339 71.8
1985 2121410 1546597 970226 72.9
1986 2124239 1533485 967972 72.2
Selected offences (intentional homicide, assault, theft, robbery)
The number of selected offences, reported to and cleared by the police, the
number of offenders cleared and the clearance rate between 1980 to 1986 are
shown in Tables 2-1 to 2-4. As Table 2-1 shows, the number of reported homicide
cases (include an attempted homicide) peaked at 1 780 in 1985, and decreased by
104 to 1 676 in the following year. There was a slight fluctuation, from 96.5
to 97.4, in the clearance rate of homicide cases.
TABLE 2-1
Number of Homicides Reported and Cleared
by Police, and of Suspects of Offences Cleared
Number of Number of
Offences Offences Number of Clearance
Year Reported Cleared Suspects Rate
1980 1684 1637 1560 97.2
1981 1754 1709 1712 97.4
1982 1764 1713 1768 97.1
1983 1745 1698 1789 97.3
1984 1762 1712 1788 97.2
1985 1780 1717 1833 96.5
1986 1676 1620 1692 96.7
TABLE 2-2
Number of Assaults Reported and Cleared by Police,
and of Suspects of Offences Cleared
Number of Number of
Offences Offences Number of Clearance
Year Reported Cleared Suspects Rate
1980 15301 14287 21362 93.4
1981 15851 14768 21315 93.2
1982 14836 13792 19964 93.0
1983 13975 13063 18555 93.5
1984 13615 12959 17670 95.2
1985 12171 11557 15739 95.0
1986 10808 10174 13762 94.1
Note: Clearance rate = number of offences cleared x 100
number of offences reported
Source: National Police Agency
The number of reported assaults have been showing a downward trend in general
from 1981, as shown on Table 2-2. As to the clearance rate of assault cases, it
was confined to a small amount of fluctuation, from 93.0 to 95.2. Of the total
Penal Code offences reported to the police, theft was the most prevalent
offence, comprising 64.7% followed by traffic (professional negligence) offences
which accounted for 25.6% in 1986. Among theft offences, motorcycle theft,
thefts from vehicles and thefts from vending machines were significant. In
1985, the number of theft cases reported to police reached a peak of 1 381 237,
since 1980, but it decreased by 6 141 to 1 375 096 in 1986, as shown in Table 2-
3. The clearance rate of theft cases ranged from 54.7 to 59.9, which was the
lower figure compared with such categories as intentional homicide, assault and
robbery.
TABLE 2-3
Number of Theft Reported and Cleared by
Police and of Suspects of Offences Cleared
Number of Number of
Offences Offences Number of Clearance
Year Reported Cleared Suspects Rate
1980 1165609 641382 248389 55.0
1981 1257354 688085 266928 54.7
1982 1313901 726032 281878 55.3
1983 1335258 747981 285178 56.0
1984 1365705 801481 292835 58.7
1985 1381237 827818 281063 59.9
1986 1375096 806634 260533 58.7
As for robbery, the number of offences reported to and cleared by police, the
number of suspects and clearance rate are shown in Table 2-4. In 1981, the
number of robbery cases reported to and cleared by police reached a peak of
2 325 and 1 895 respectively during the period (1980 to 1986), but showed a
downward trend since then, decreasing by 376 to 1 949, and by 366 to 529 in
1986 respectively. The clearance rate of robbery cases from 1980 to 1986 ranged
from 74.8 in 1982 to 82.5 in 1985.
TABLE 2-4
Number of Robbery Reported and Cleared by
Police, and of Suspects of Offences Cleared
Number of Number of
Offences Offences Number of Clearance
Year Reported Cleared Suspects Rate
1980 2208 1667 2064 75.5
1981 2325 1895 2124 81.5
1982 2251 1684 2072 74.8
1983 2317 1799 2069 77.6
1984 2188 1725 2031 78.8
1985 1815 1497 1777 82.5
1986 1949 1529 1842 78.5
Note: Clearance rate = number of offences cleared x 100
number of offences reported
Source: National Police Agency
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2.1. STATISTICS --BACKGROUND
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2.2. CRIMINAL JUSTICE STATISTICS (1970-1980) Background
A. Number of offenders arrested for Penal Code offences, excluding offences of
causing bodily injury by negligence (or gross negligence in traffic cases.
B. "number of cases known to the police" in Criminal Statistics compiled by the
National Police Agency.
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2.3. Offenses Reported To The Police
Crime Years Total Numbers
MURDER 70-75 1986 2218 2060 2275 1912 2333
MURDER 75-80 2098 2111 2031 1862 1853 1684
ASSAULT 70-75 82605 74976 69746 70425 61640 55549
ASSAULT 75-80 56080 52842 52410 46850 41897 41344
SEX CRIME 70-75 5161 8448 4677 7584 3956 6666
RAPE 75-80 3704 3239 2945 2897 2810 2610
ROBBERY 70-75 2689 2429 2500 1950 2140 2333
ROBBERY 75-80 2300 2095 2095 1932 2043 2208
THEFT 70-75 1039118 1026432 1006675 974031 1013153 1037646
THEFT 75-80 1037942 1049748 1073393 1136648 1107477 1165609
FRAUD 70-75 58340 49632 57658 54173 49764 51105
FRAUD 75-80 58530 59462 60597 64866 58063 58958
KIDNAPING 70-75 351 317 286 325 196 222
KIDNAPING 75-80 182 171 153 189 130 139
TOTAL CRIMES
70-75 1283263 1234110 1728786 1228849
75-80 1234307 1284155 1268430 1329478 1289405 1418858
DRUG USE 70-75 3476 10564 17844
DRUG CRIMES
75-80 36524 52556 61397
DRUG TRAFFIC
70-75 1043 2112 2139 4334 3290 3333
75-80
BRIBERY 70-75 1276 1141 742
BRIBERY 75-80 1060 1034 765 898 507 807
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2.4. Offenders apprehended or arrested
OFFENDERS 70-75 383392 254496 356532 249196 379821 246635
OFFENDERS 75-80 364117 395615 363144 430591 368126 448844
JUVENILES 70-75 113720 107712 101610 108346 116251 116652
JUVENILES 75-80 117091 115901 119446 137051 143612 166571
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2.5. Offenders Convicted
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2.6. Sanctions - Background
General: The Penal Code provides that principal punishments are classified as
death, imprisonment with labour, imprisonment without labour, fine, penal
detention, and minor fine, and confiscation is a supplemental punishment.
Imprisonment both with labour and without labour shall be either for life or for
a limited term of imprisonment not less than one month nor more than 15 years.
Nevertheless, when the accumulative crimes include two or more crimes punishable
by imprisonment with or without labour for limited terms, or punishment for a
recidivist, the term of imprisonment may be extended to 20 years. A fine shall
be not less than 4 000 yen. Fines are imposed in a great number of cases in
Japan: in 1986, as many as 95.7% of all offenders, including traffic violators,
were fined and most of them were disposed of by summary proceedings. This
system of summary proceeding for fine or minor fine without a doubt contributes
much to reducing the burden on the courts, thereby enabling them to concentrate
on the more serious or complicated cases. A minor fine shall be 20 yen or more
and less than 4 000 yen.
A person unable to pay their fine or minor fine in full shall be detained in a
work-house. However, average daily population of work-houses was small and it's
number was 148 in 1986.
A penal detention shall be for one day or more and less than 30 days, and it
shall consist of confinement in a penal detention house. Number of newly
admitted prisoners to penal detentions was 77 in 1986.
Number of convicted
Table 3 shows the number of convicted by category of sentence for 6 years since
1980. The total number Convicted for Penal Code offences or Special Law
offences such as the stimulant drugs law, road-traffic violations law and the
like, was 2 362 958 in 1986 with an increase of 224 959 (10.5%) over the number
in 1980. The majority of this increase was disposed of by fine with an increase
of 223 289 from 1980 to 2 260 791 in 1986, and minor fine, rose from 24 780 in
1980 to 27 004 in 1986. Daily average population of penal institutions was
50 596 in 1980, with an increase of 4 752 (9.4%) to 55 348 in 1986. As to the
number newly admitted to penal institutions, 32 837 inmates were incarcerated in
1986, an increase of 4 463 (15.7%) as compared with that of 1980. Out of them
30 651 (95.8% male and 4.2% female) were newly sentenced prisoners, and 2 186
were persons who were returned to penal institutions for correctional
administrative reasons such as revocation of parole. Seeing the types of
offences committed by newly admitted prisoners in 1986, 8 568 (28.0%) were
violations of the stimulant drugs control law, and 8 231 (26.9%) were larceny.
In 1986, the probation office newly received 18 130 adult parolees from penal
institutions, with an increase of 2 924 (19.2%) compared to that of 1980, and
received 5 580 juvenile parolees from juvenile training school, an increase of
1 517 (37.3%) compared with that in 1980. As to the newly received adult
probationers who were placed on probation by the criminal court upon the
pronouncement of suspended sentence of imprisonment, the number decreased from
6 456 in 1980 to 1 602 (19.9%) in 1986. The number of newly received juvenile
probationers who were placed on probation by the family court numbered 72 268
in 1986, with an increase of 15 946 (28.3%) over 1980.
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2.7. Prison Statistics
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2.8. Criminal Justice Personnel and resources - background
The number of personnel engaged in such criminal justice fields as police,
prosecution, courts, prison and non-institutional services, as of
31 December 1986, were as follows:
Police: The total number of police personnel was 256 546 (male 239 900;
female 16 600), an increase of 4 553 (1.8%) over that of 1982. Of whom 217 934
were police officers engaged in patrolling, crime investigation and the like,
and 35 697 were in charge of the clerical work.
Prosecution: The total number of qualified prosecution personnel was 2 092
(male 2 068; female 24), which was the same number as that of 1982.
Judiciary: The total number of professional judges was 2 800 (male 2 701;
female 99), an increase of 33 (1.2%) over that of 1982.
Prisons: The total number of staff of adult prisons was 15 301, an increase
of 63 (0.4%) over that of 1982. Breakdown of the number by functions: 2 121
(13.9%) were management, 11 231 (73.4%) were custodial, 1 133 (7.4%) were
treatment, and 816 (5.3%) was other.
As for juvenile prisons, the total number was 1 649, an increase of 7 (0.4%)
over that of 1982. Breakdown of the number indicated, 239 (14.5%) were
management, 1 148 (69.6%) were custodial, 169 (10.2%) were treatment, and 93
(5.6%) were listed as other.
TABLE 4
(In Thousands)
Total for calendar or fiscal year
Criminal Justice Agency 1982 1984 1986
Police 1931681826 2004195159 2181107892
Prosecution 65756122 66220239 70902582
Courts 198193026 209544522 229790264
Prisons (penal and
correctional institutions) 120461780 121010708 130042056
Non-institutional services 10138642 10452909 11445296
Non-institutional services
The total number of probation officers was 920. In addition to the professional
probation officer, about 48 000 persons are on the volunteer probation officer's
position throughout the country. Table 4 shows the allocation of budgetary resources
to criminal justice activities.
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2.9. Criminal Justice Resources Statistics
POLICE 1973 217775
POLICE 75-80 197000 202000 210000
JUDGES 1973 2600 2703 2726 2747
PROSEC 70-72 2059 1987 2030 2051 2024 2066
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3.0. CRIMINAL JUSTICE STATISTICS (1980-1985)
A. ' Other ' is comprised of Ars over & battery leading to death. Rape incl indecent
assault. Assault battery & other.
B Theft = from schools & other; houses; shops; cars.
C. Q14.9(i) = Alcoholic drinks (ii) = Drugs.
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3.1. Offenses Reported To The Police
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986
Crimes Recorded
TOTAL 1375461 1463228 1528779 1540717 1588693 1607697 1581411
INT.HOM. 1684 1754 1764 1745 1762 1780 1676
NON.INT.HOM. 221 214 218 188 214 185 186
ASSAULTS 41344 41415 39820 37590 36941 34288 31795
MAJ.ASSAULTS 26043 25564 24984 28615 23326 22113 20987
RAPES 2610 2638 2399 1970 1926 1802 1750
ROBBERIES 2208 2325 2251 2317 2188 1815 1949
THEFTS 1165609 1257354 1313901 1335258 1365705 1381237 1375096
MAJ.THEFTS 290683 301536 302161 297607 302021 300026 296777
FRAUDS 58958 63710 66472 59463 72455 74424 64788
EMBEZZLEMENT 3797 3860 3776 2682 3423 2891 2774
KIDNAPPING 139 122 113 76 82 98 113
DRUG POSS. 7631 7695 7660 7405 7471 7371 7063
OTHER DRUG 27647 30483 31840 31483 31725 30190 27102
BRIBERY 807 765 794 515 475 460 342
OTHER 12272 13804 15596 17346 18593 18567 16014
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3.2. Offenders apprehended or arrested
Suspected Offenders
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986
TOTAL 392113 418162 441963 438705 446617 432250 399886
INT.HOM. 1560 1712 1768 1789 1788 1833 1692
NON.INT.HOM. 265 261 308 293 276 235 254
ASSAULT 56038 55616 53798 50564 49752 45294 41888
RAPE 2667 2657 2420 1972 1907 1800 1577
ROBBERY 2064 2124 2072 2069 2031 1777 1842
THEFT 248389 266928 281878 285178 292835 281063 260533
FRAUD 13492 14629 15107 13589 14994 15061 13379
KIDNAPPING 87 96 68 65 68 93 85
EMBEZZLEMENT 2186 2254 2238 1588 1976 1796 1470
DRUG POSS. 6265 6430 6479 6202 6599 6452 6202
OTHER DRUG 15191 17007 18286 18583 18942 18168 16468
BRIBERY 701 739 782 587 549 544 436
OTHER 3898 4000 4359 3755 3752 3637 3519
Persons Prosecuted
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986
TOTAL 222560 2261257 2471277 2561124
INT.HOM. 975 1074 1072 1097 1172 1203 1126
NON.INT.HOM. 48 49 48 35 35 28 41
ASSAULT 31905 30720 27792 26489 26197 24562 21623
RAPE 1266 1231 1152 876 875 976 830
ROBBERY 856 1071 900 1072 1069 907 771
THEFT 42808 43981 44707 42216 43355 42485 40062
FRAUD 10433 11619 12261 11025 13378 12793 9955
EMBEZZLEMENT 2118 1925 1939 1610 1858 1783 1637
KIDNAPPING 42 31 43 39 39 77 60
OTHER DRUG 27045 28776 28958 28052 28334 27170 25149
BRIBERY 1083 1076 1119 797 787 655 493
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3.3. Offenders Convicted
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986
TOTAL 79417 78740 79174 79239 80144 78769 76305
INT.HOM. 944 888 891 1022 978 974 978
NON.INT.HOM. 320 289 285 282 276 253 274
ASSAULT 4833 4588 4429 4178 4468 4239 3917
RAPE 1052 970 916 698 686 706 702
ROBBERY 695 807 781 763 840 720 686
THEFT 17299 18114 18400 17916 18313 18189 17559
FRAUD 4150 4378 4896 4488 5064 5033 4234
EMBEZZLEMENT 829 869 790 682 784 692 668
KIDNAPPING 40 29 32 31 31 47 44
OTHER DRUG 14569 15737 16366 16011 16551 16138 15497
BRIBERY 318 402 401 358 330 248 251
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3.4. Prisoners ( No Data)
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3.5. Criminal Justice Resources Statistics
CRJ Personnel
1982 1984 1986
POLICE 251993 253625 256546
PROSECUTORS 2092 2092 2092
PROF.JUDGES 2767 2783 2800
LAY JUDGES 0 0 0
OTHER JUDGES 0 0 0
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4.0. Selected Issues
Pre-trial detention: The Code of Criminal Procedure requires that the persons
arrested by the police, if there is need to detain, must be transferred to the
public prosecutors office within 48 hours of arrest. If the public prosecutor
who receives custody of a suspect in this way, believes further detention is
necessary, he must within 24 hours after he receives custody of the suspect and
within 72 hours after the time of arrest, request a judge to authorise
detention.
A number of the persons awaiting trial or adjudication in custody as of
31 December 1986 was 9 455. As for the time periods required to finalise
adjudications in district courts after being indicted, 70.7% were within three
months in 1986.
Crime prevention activities
Steady, increasing efforts for crime prevention are required. Without the
active support and understanding of the entire population, crime cannot be
eliminated nor can offenders be rehabilitated. Viewed in this light, annual
campaigns such as `Movement Toward a Brighter Society' sponsored each July by
the ministry of justice, `National Crime Prevention Campaigns' conducted under
police sponsorship, `National Sound Youth Nurture Month' sponsored by Youth
Affairs Administration Management and Coordination agency are actively promoted.
Moreover, private and voluntary associations such as crime prevention
associations and traffic safety associations are formed in every police district
to undertake various activities aimed at preventing the commission of offences
and control dangerous activities. As for juvenile delinquency, the juvenile
guidance centre was established and is staffed by police officers, public
officials (mainly social workers from local governments), school teachers and
volunteers. They go out on the street and offer guidance and counselling to
those juveniles who show delinquency.
Public participation
Active public cooperation is indispensable to effective functioning of the
criminal justice system. In addition to the above mentioned field of police
work, there is, in the field of prosecution, a unique system called Inquest of
Prosecution which was designed to reflect the opinion of lay citizens in
handling public prosecutions. Laymen can also take part in court proceedings.
One of the examples is the laymen counsel in criminal cases before the Summary
Court, Family Court and the District Court. A defendant can select a person or
persons, who are not qualified attorneys, to be their own counsel by permission
of the court. Various programs for treatment of offenders also have been
instituted to involve members of the community in correctional and
rehabilitative processes. As for institutional treatment, religious
functionaries counsel individual prisoners at the latter's request, and
volunteer prison visitors interview and provide guidance to prisoners about
their personal problems and future prospects. Regarding the non-institutional
treatment, it is characterised by the extensive participation of volunteers.
About 48,000 persons have been Volunteer Probation Officers commissioned by the
Minister of Justice, whose roles are to help offenders rehabilitate themselves
in society and to influence public attitude for the promotion of crime
prevention. One hundred Rehabilitation Aid Hostels run by non-governmental
bodies under approval and subsidised by the Minister of Justice to provide
housing, assistance and guidance to released prisoners and probationers who
otherwise would return to or remain in inadequate or criminogenic surroundings.
In addition to the above mentioned, Big Brothers and Sisters Associations with
some 7 000 members, who counsel juveniles on a one-to-one basis, Women's
Associations for Rehabilitation Aid with some 170 000 members and cooperating
employers also participate significantly in crime prevention activities and the
restoration of rehabilitated offenders into the community.
Diversion
There are some diversion schemes to avoid imprisonment of offenders at every
stage of the criminal justice system. In the field of police work, there is the
`disposal on trivial cases by police' in which trivial cases may be disposed of
by police officers without referral to public prosecutors offices according to
the criteria designated by a public prosecutor. In the field of Prosecution,
the public prosecutor is authorised to use `Suspension of Prosecution' to
suspend prosecution at his own discretion in consideration of the interests of
society and offender, even if there is sufficient evidence to prove the guilt of
the offender. In recent years, about 40 per cent of non-traffic Penal Code
offenders were granted suspension of prosecution. In the trial stages, in case
of the sentence of imprisonment is for not more than three years, the court may,
at its discretion, give judgement `suspension of execution of sentence of
imprisonment' the rate of application to total sentences of imprisonment was
56.0% in 1986. Parole after service of part of sentence of imprisonment also
confirm the belief on the part of citizens that the criminal justice system
affords them adequate protection without inflicting unneeded harshness on
criminal offenders.
TABLE 3
Number of Convicted (1980 to 1986)
Category 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986
Total 2137999 2181243 2211640 2375708 2482507 2490816 2362958
Death 7 3 1 1 3 2 0
Life imprisonment
with labour 40 33 36 36 43 38 41
Imprisonment
with labour 69947 71601 71929 72265 73941 72238 69803
Imprisonment
without labour 5690 5051 4817 4977 4947 5088 5197
Fine 2037502 2079519 2110044 2272970 2374394 2383868 2260791
Penal detention 33 53 47 41 41 77 122
Minor fine 24780 24983 24766 25418 29138 29505 27004